


As the wheel turns

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Changing the past, F/M, Shears of Destiny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:22:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: The Shears of Destiny played a vital part in the life of the three of them after all.





	

The steady creak of a spinning wheel had been a part of Rumple’s life for so very long that the sound never troubled him, even in the strange, yet familiar dreamscape they found themselves in now. From one large constantly turning spinning wheel thousands of threads were twisting and turning into being, each one separate, but weaving around its fellows in an unfathomable pattern.

“Where are we?”

“Where everything is begun and where everything ends.”

The sound of the voice made Belle edge closer to Rumple, from the shadows a woman walked towards them, she appeared young, but one look at her eyes was enough to convince Belle that appearances could not be trusted here. She drifted through the twisting threads as if they were insubstantial fog and stopped a few feet from Rumple and smiled at him, pride and sorrow sharing her features in a melancholy balance.

“Rumplestiltskin. How far you have come.”

“Do I know you?”

Belle shivered, she’d never had much in the way of magical sense, but she had the sudden conviction that their future hung on the woman’s answer. 

“No, but I know everyone.”

As quickly as it had come the feeling passed and Belle could breathe easy once more. The woman held out her hand; “You have something that belongs to me.”  
Belle wasn’t sure what she could mean, but Rumple knew. He reached into his jacket and withdrew the Shears of Destiny, his fingers closed around them briefly before he offered them on the palm of his hand to the woman. She turned them over in her hands running her fingers over them as if discerning their recent history.

“You didn’t use them?”

“No, I was tempted, but I saw that it would do more harm than good.”

She smiled warmly at him, giving Belle the impression of a pleased mentor, or perhaps a parent.

“No one understands how to use them correctly. They only delay the inevitable when used improperly,” – She nodded at Rumple – “You’re a weaver, you know that you can’t just snip a thread and leave it hanging loose, especially a thread of Fate, it will always find a way to reconnect, look at Aladdin.”

Rumple nodded sadly, the hope that had sustained him thus far drained from him leaving him smaller; “Can you use them properly?”

The women laughed; “Of course I can.” 

Belle and Rumple shared a silent look that spoke volumes to each other, all their hopes for the future the Black Fairy had denied them rested on the Shears, but if Gideon’s Fate was inevitable would delaying it be worth the risk, worth the pain, worth the chance that their son’s life could become worse?

“I know what you want, and it can be done.”

“At what cost?”

“For what price?”

The woman chuckled softly as Belle and Rumple spoke together.

“The cost will not be carried by either of you, or your son.”

Rumple’s eyes narrowed; “Who will carry the cost?”

"The Black Fairy."

Her face clouded as if the thought of what she was about to say caused her pain.

“Many years ago she committed an act which altered the pattern of thousands of lives. Her payment is now due.”

The explanation provoked more questions than it gave answers, but the women’s stance and tight lips made it clear that she would speak no more on the matter. She flourished the Shears; “Shall we?”

Belle took Rumple’s hand; he turned to her with a grateful smile and tentatively cupped her face.

“Belle, however this turns out I want you to know that…”

Her fingers on his lips stopped his words; “I love you Rumplestiltskin.”

They wrapped each other in a tight embrace. The sharp snick of the Shears broke the silence, and Rumple and Belle vanished. The woman severed four threads. Three she wove together in one hand and released to flow back into the ever developing pattern of Life. The last she worked into a complex knot and then repeatedly sliced it with the Shears until there was nothing left but dust.

“You didn’t tell him Sister.”

“You could have, we would have understood.”

Clotho wiped the single tear that had formed from her eye, and smiled at her sisters. 

“My son has carried more than his share of burdens, I would not add the truth of his parentage to his shoulders.”

Atropos and Lachesis could only nod and accept their sister’s decision, Rumplestiltskin was her son, and the choice to keep him ignorant of their relationship was hers alone.

 

In Storybrooke Rumple blinked and shook away a moment of dizziness, the steady turning of his spinning wheel suddenly looked strange. On the couch across the room Belle was pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Sweetheart? Do you have a headache?”

She looked up at him with a soft smile; “No, just tired. Someone woke us up far too early this morning.”

Rumple rose to peek into the crib and a warm loving smile blooming on his face at the sight of their sleeping son.

“Well he seems to be making up for it now. Perhaps we should try for a nap as well?”

Belle opened her arms to him and they settled together on the couch. After a moment Belle’s brow wrinkled and she asked; “Have you ever heard of the Black Fairy?”

Rumple thought for a moment, there was something familiar about the name, but that was probably nothing more than any colour sounding familiar in front of the word fairy. He gave an easy shrug and snuggled closer to Belle.

“Can’t say I have, why?”

Belle nibbled her bottom lip for a moment, and then shook her head, “No reason, just a passing thought I suppose.”


End file.
